10 essential key to personal effectiveness

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10 ESSENTIAL KEYS
TO PERSONAL EFFECTIVENESS

Written by Michael Angier

http://SuccessNet.org
Copyright 1997 Success Networks

10 Essential Keys
to Personal Effectiveness
Published by
Success Networks International, Inc.
Win-Win Way, PO Box 2048
South Burlington, Vermont 05407-2048

Copyright 1997 Success Networks, International, Inc.
Manufactured in the United States of America

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or
transmitted in any form by any means, electronic or mechanical, photocopying,
recording, scanning or otherwise except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of
the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without the prior written permission of the
Publisher.

Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty
While the authors have used their best efforts in preparing this report, they make
no representation or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the
contents and specifically disclaim any implied warranties. The advice and
strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should
consult with a professional where appropriate. The authors shall not be liable for
any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to
special, incidental, consequential or other damages.


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10 Essential Keys

Table of Contents
Keys to Personal Effectiveness...................................................................................... 4
The Art and Joy of Being Efficacious ....................................................................... 4
Efficacy............................................................................................................................. 4
Doing the Right Things .................................................................................................... 4

Clarity Leads to Power ................................................................................................... 5
Live in the Question ......................................................................................................... 5

Values ............................................................................................................................ 5
Keep Your Word............................................................................................................... 6

First Things First ............................................................................................................ 6
ABC List ........................................................................................................................... 6
The 80/20 Rule................................................................................................................. 6
Covey’s Quadrant ............................................................................................................ 7
Do You Have To?............................................................................................................. 7
Learn to Say “No”............................................................................................................. 7
Ask Lakein’s Question ..................................................................................................... 7
Schedule Our To-Dos ...................................................................................................... 7

Tools & Technology ....................................................................................................... 8
Computers........................................................................................................................ 8
Software ........................................................................................................................... 8
Contact Manager, Scheduler, Task Manager .................................................................. 8
Personal Planner.............................................................................................................. 8
Strive to Have a Paperless Existence.............................................................................. 8
Tape Recorders, CD and MP3 Players............................................................................ 8

Systematize.................................................................................................................... 9
Be Organized ................................................................................................................... 9
Have a Place for Things................................................................................................... 9
Delegate........................................................................................................................... 9
Write it Down.................................................................................................................... 9
KISS ................................................................................................................................. 9
Let Go of the Past—Without Guilt.................................................................................. 10

Become a Master ......................................................................................................... 10
Health & Energy ........................................................................................................... 10
Make it Fun .................................................................................................................... 10
Keep a Sense of Humor................................................................................................. 11

Inspiration..................................................................................................................... 11
Find Things that Motivate You ....................................................................................... 11
Reward Yourself............................................................................................................. 11
Overcome Procrastination ............................................................................................. 11

Consistency.................................................................................................................. 11


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10 Essential Keys
Support......................................................................................................................... 12
Create Your Own Success Team .................................................................................. 12
Build Reserves ............................................................................................................... 12

And Finally . . . ............................................................................................................. 13
Knowledge Isn’t Free ................................................................................................... 14
SuccessNet Resources................................................................................................ 16
About Success Net....................................................................................................... 17


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10 Essential Keys

Keys to Personal Effectiveness
The Art and Joy of Being Efficacious
HAVE YOU EVER WONDERED why some people seem to accomplish so
much while others struggle along barely able to attend to their daily
needs? Highly effective people usually fulfill their achievements with
less work and effort than those who accomplish little. The difference
is in their focus, intention and skills—all of which can be mastered.
In the pages to follow, we’ll touch on several techniques and
strategies that can enable you to optimize your potential. This report
is for people who want to be more effective—people who want to get
more done in less time while enjoying the process. It’s for people
wanting to experience greater fulfillment and create more value in
their lives and the lives of those around them.
We all enjoy the satisfaction that comes from getting things done and
doing them well. I’ve even gone so far as to write things on my to-do
list after they were done just to experience the little joy of checking
them off. When we feel productive, when we think we’ve
accomplished something worthwhile, our confidence and self-esteem
increases. Even our endorphins are triggered. We feel exhilarated.
Our life is more fun.

Efficacy
The goal is efficacy—one of my favorite words. Efficiency is doing
something with the least amount of effort, time and resources
available. Effectiveness means getting positive results—doing things
which are worthwhile.
You can be efficient without being effective—doing things that don’t
matter—like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. You can be
effective without being efficient—doing something worthwhile, but
taking too much time or having it cost too much. What we want to
strive for is efficacy.

Doing the Right Things
The intention of this report is to help you do more of the right things
faster, easier and with less frustration. It’s intended to help you get a
better handle on your life—to make more useful choices and to effect
those choices in ways that make your life a more rewarding
experience.
Many of the suggestions may appear simplistic. But don’t let their
simplicity cause you to overlook the insight and miss the nuggets of
wisdom they contain. Many of the concepts are simple, but they’re
not simplistic. They’re proven principles and systems that have
worked for many others. Some are ancient and have been used by


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10 Essential Keys
the masters for centuries. Others are relatively new. We invite you to
try them and see for yourself how helpful they can be.

Clarity Leads to Power
It’s absolutely critical that we become and remain clear on our
intended outcomes. Mark Twain said, “I can tell anyone how to get
what they want if I could only find someone who knew what it was.”
When you’re absolutely clear on what it is that you want, and are
determined to get it, there’s no stopping you. Lack of clarity and
focus is one of the most common failings.
The subconscious mind doesn’t deal well with generalities. It likes
specific messages. As someone once wrote, “You can’t play an
uncertain instrument.” By giving your mind clear instructions and
no vagaries, you’ll develop a powerful congruence, which will almost
magically seek out and attract your objectives.
Have specific outcomes for everything— telephone calls, meetings,
tasks, etc.—for each day and each month.

Live in the Question
Tony Robbins says, “Quality questions create a quality life.
Successful people ask better questions, and as a result, they get
better answers.” One of the biggest payoffs in retaining a consultant
or counselor isn’t so much the advice they give, but rather the
questions they ask. They make us think.
Learn to ask yourself questions that increase your clarity and
generate solutions. Ask IWWCW questions. IWWCW stands for In
What Ways Can We . . . always be asking why, when, how, why not,
what if, etc.

Values
INTEGRITY
It is not what we eat
but what we digest
that makes us strong;
not what we gain
but what we save
that makes us rich;
not what we read
but what we remember
that makes us learned;
and not what we profess
but what we practice
that gives us Integrity.
—Anonymous

Each of us has our own value system. We’re not talking morality
here. We’re speaking of the beliefs we have that are well established,
even if they’re not consciously apparent. When you operate outside
this value system, you can’t be effective. And it’s paramount that you
discover these values and honor them.
Abraham Maslow referred to this unity between our values and our
everyday performance as self-actualization. “It is a bringing together
of what I do and what I really value.”
In The Ten Natural Laws of Successful Time and Life Management,
Hyrum Smith writes, “The secret to achieving inner peace lies in
understanding our inner core values—those things in our lives that
are most important to us—and then seeing that they’re reflected in
the daily events of our lives.”


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10 Essential Keys

Keep Your Word
When you break your word—to others or yourself—you’re out of
integrity, and your self-esteem and confidence suffers. You need
confidence to optimize your productivity, and it’s drained by not
keeping your promises.
Bucky Fuller said it best: “Integrity is the essence of everything
successful.” Success in any endeavor demands an unshakable
character.
We recommend this eCourse:
http://YourCoreValues.com/

First Things First
There’s no way to do everything we’d like to do. We can do anything
we want, we just can’t do everything we want. We have to prioritize.
We need to be working on the things that are the most important. By
doing so, we’ll see the greatest payoff. Plan your work, and work your
plan.

ABC List
When you make a list of things to do, assign a value to each one. “A”
means something you’re absolutely committed to doing—something
that must be done. “B” is for tasks you want very much to get done
and eventually will be done—they’re just not urgent. “C” items are
for those things you’d like to do, have an intention to do, or what I
call, “It’d be nice.” By assigning these priorities, you’ll find it easier
to determine on which items you should be working. If you’re
working on C items, it’s probably because you’re avoiding the As and
Bs.

The 80/20 Rule
80 percent of your results will usually come from 20 percent of your
efforts. Find out what that is and focus on that 20 percent.


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10 Essential Keys

Covey’s Quadrant
Stephen Covey developed a matrix to enhance our perspective on our
tasks and gain a greater awareness of their priorities.

The greatest payoff comes from working on projects that are in
quadrant II (important, but not urgent). By focusing on quadrant II
activities, we’ll position ourselves to spend less time handling crises.

Do You Have To?
Some things you may not really have to do. Ask yourself this
question, “Would something terrible happen if I didn’t do this?” We
often spend time doing things that we only thought were necessary.

Learn to Say “No”
It’s not easy at first, but you’ll get better at it. If you don’t set your
priorities, someone else will do it for you—with their requests.

Ask Lakein’s Question
What’s the best use of my time right now? With very little effort, you
can usually determine the answer, but you have to ask the question.
And ask it often.

Schedule Our To-Dos
It’s not enough to list the things you plan to do. You need to schedule
them just like they were an appointment. Otherwise, they often
won’t get done. Keep in mind, however, that as you plan, the key is
not to prioritize your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.


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10 Essential Keys

Tools & Technology
Call it your Success Toolbox. We must keep up to date on the tools
technology has to offer.

Computers
Operating successfully in the new century without being competent
with computers and being online isn’t too likely. If you don’t have a
computer, get one. If you don’t know how to use it, take a class.
If you’re not online, sign up with one of the commercial online
services or a local Internet service provider and get your feet wet. It’s
fun, inexpensive, efficient, entertaining and educational.

Software
Today’s programs are powerful tools for getting your work done.
Spend the time necessary to learn the most up-to-date office suites
like MS Office or WordPerfect.

Contact Manager, Scheduler, Task Manager
Part of your computer system should be a personal information
manager (PIM) that will make it easy to keep track of people and
schedule your tasks and appointments. Once you have one, you’ll
wonder how you ever got by without it. We recommend Microsoft
Outlook. Act! and Gold Mine are two other good ones.

Personal Planner
If you’re not near your computer most of the time, you need a
planner. The DayRunner™ and The Franklin Planner™ are good
choices. The key here is to have everything in one place. Most PIMs
for the computer allow you to print out your schedule, address book
and task list for you to put into your carry-around planner.

Strive to Have a Paperless Existence
It’s not easy, but you can come close. Get things into your computer
system, print out only the things you have to, and remember to back
it all up regularly.

Tape Recorders, CD and MP3 Players
Most of us enjoy audio technologies in our car—a cassette tape
player, CD player or MP3 player. While you’re driving, you can stay
up to date on your industry, improve your people skills or even learn
a second language. Most of us spend a fair amount of time in our
cars, and we can be educating ourselves while we travel. It’s also a
good idea to carry a hand-held tape recorder for noting thoughts and
ideas as they occur to us.


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10 Essential Keys

Systematize
Create systems that support you. Automate and systematize as
much as you can so they happen by themselves without thought,
action or attention on your part. In doing so, you free yourself to do
what humans are best designed to do—think, create and enjoy.

Be Organized
There’s no such thing as a disorganized person—only one who
doesn’t organize themselves. You can do it, and it will make your life
more fun. Handle things once whenever possible. Every time you
pick something up, look at it and think about it, it consumes time
and takes away your focus from something else.

Have a Place for Things
Make things easy to find. Time spent looking for items is not only
wasteful, it’s frustrating, causes us to be late for appointments and
makes us less fun to be around. Put things in the same place so you
don’t have to think about where they are. Life is too short to spend
looking for things.

Delegate
You don’t have to do it alone—get help. Big things require big plans
with lots of resources. One of the biggest challenges facing the
entrepreneurial or intrepreneurial type is the difficulty of delegating
tasks and responsibilities. It’s a learned skill and one we need to
master. Ask a lot of yourself, but ask a lot of others as well. People
rise to your expectations. If you can’t afford to hire or contract with
someone, perhaps you can find a volunteer. People like to do things
worthwhile, and they don’t always have to be remunerated in money.
Be creative.

Write it Down
A short pencil is better than a long memory any day. Make your
notes in one place where you can easily access them—preferably your
computer. Write out your goals, your plans, ideas, and keep track of
the results. Keeping a personal journal is highly recommended.

KISS
Your slogan should be KISS— Keep It Short & Simple. The more
complicated something is, the harder it is to understand and the less
interested people will be in it. Emerson said it best almost a hundred
years ago, “Simplify. Simplify. Simplify.” But Thoreau said, “One
simplify would have been enough.”


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10 Essential Keys

Let Go of the Past—Without Guilt
Most people go around carrying yesterday’s, last year’s and even 20year-old baggage. It drags you down and detracts from your focus
and power. Get things done and put them behind you. There’s a
power, a release and a satisfaction that comes from being complete.
Sometimes you simply need to declare something complete in order
for it to be so.

Become a Master
“One who works with
his hands is a laborer;
one who works with his
hands and his head is a
craftsman; one who
works with his hands,
his head and his heart
is a master.”

Dedicate yourself to being your best. We can’t be masters of
everything, but we can all be masters of something. Resolve to be an
authority in your industry. Here again, your self-confidence will
increase dramatically when you become an expert. We need general
knowledge, but we also need specialized knowledge. What are you
willing to be a master of?
The novelist James Michener wrote, “The master in the art of living
makes little distinction between his work and his play, his labor and
his leisure, his mind and his body, his information and his
recreation, his love and his religion. He hardly knows which is
which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence at whatever he
does, leaving others to decide whether he is working or playing. To
him he’s always doing both.”

Health & Energy
Vince Lombardi said, “Fatigue makes cowards of us all.” You can’t
expect to do your best if you’re sick or tired. Get plenty of rest. Take
care of yourself. Take a good vitamin supplement. Don’t do things
that are unhealthy. You know what they are.
Take breaks in your routine, in your day and in your life. Take
charge of your moods and attitudes. You are not your emotions, you
have emotions—and you can master them.
Find your most productive time(s) of the day. Everyone has his or
her own rhythm. You may be a night person or perhaps the morning
is your most productive time. Don’t fight it, make it work for you!
Schedule your most challenging work during your most alert and
productive times.

Make it Fun
Jerry Greenfield, co-founder of Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream, has a
saying, “If it’s not fun, don’t do it.” It’s a great motto. Anything worth
doing has parts of it that aren’t always fun, but that doesn’t mean
the project itself can’t be fun. Look for ways to make your work more
festive. You can be serious without being grim.


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10 Essential Keys

Keep a Sense of Humor
When problems and catastrophes occur—and they will—remember
this: If you’re going to laugh about it later, you might as well laugh
about it now. Life is too important to take seriously. Be patient.
Enjoy the ride.

Inspiration
Find Things that Motivate You
Maybe it’s books, tapes or music. Certain people are inspiring to be
around. Hang out with them, and don’t spend time with the
“stinking thinkers.”
Your goals should turn you on. Be immersed in a vocation that has
meaning and value to you—a purpose bigger than yourself.
Whatever it is, find it and use it to your advantage. By being
engrossed in something you feel passionate about, you’ll stay
motivated.
Remember why you’re doing this. Concentrate on your goals—big
and small alike. Pay attention to why you chose to do what you’re
doing. Think about your family. Focus on the payoff.

Reward Yourself
It’s important to mark the achievement of a goal or milestone. Take
some time off. Celebrate. Enroll the family. Let them see the joy of
winning. Go out to dinner. Make it fun. We all like to be
acknowledged, and we need to do it for ourselves as well as others.

Overcome Procrastination
Procrastination is so easy. It’s like darkness, it’s what shows up
when there’s no light.
When you just can’t seem to do something, commit to at least
starting it. Beginning is half done. Many times I’ve found myself
working on a project long after I had planned, simply because I
promised myself I would just start it. Once I’d begun, I had some
momentum, and I kept going.

Consistency
Nothing worthwhile is ever achieved easily or quickly. Success may
not be easy, but it is simple. Anyone can be successful, if they’re clear
on their objectives and consistent and diligent in their efforts.
Consistency is where most people fall down. The habits and tasks
needed to live a successful life are things that anyone can and
usually does do. It’s just that the successful person does them
consistently.

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10 Essential Keys
It’s not how long it takes, it’s the results produced. When it comes to
accomplishment, time is clearly relative. Einstein once explained his
Theory of Relativity in this way. “If you sit with a beautiful girl, two
hours seem like two minutes. If you sit on a hot stove, two minutes
seem like two hours. That’s relativity.”
The results produced in an hour of focused, committed, highintentioned activity can be hundreds of times more valuable than the
same effort without these ingredients. And there’s no obstacle that
will not submit to consistent, focused, hit-it-hard, all-out massive
action.
In order to reap, we must sow. And then we must water, cultivate
and have patience. You can’t be digging up what you’ve planted to
see how it’s doing.
There’s a season for everything. Trust in what Covey calls, “The Law
of the Farm.” And Harvey McKay recommends, “Dig your well before
you’re thirsty.”

Support
Create Your Own Success Team
Don’t try to go it alone. It’s too big a world, there are too many
negative influences, and it’s too easy to lose focus. No company would
operate without a board of directors. You can have the same
principles working for you by having your own team of advisors—for
free!
And stay away from the doomsayers—the people with mental BO.
You can’t afford being around them. Learn to care less about what
other people think. They don’t have to live your life—you do.

Build Reserves
You can’t do your best when you’re worried about the telephone bill.
Most people allow themselves to be “nibbled to death by ducks”—the
ducks being the little nagging things that eat up our patience and
our creativity. Clear the decks. Get things out of the way. Effect
completions.
In doing so, you’ll be able to create reserves of money, time and
energy. The best thing you can do is get out of debt. Other than
disease, we know of little else that hampers our efficacy more than
this. Perhaps it is a disease.
How to Form Your Own Success Team
Make the mastermind principle work for you.
http://SuccessNet.org/files/teams.pdf


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10 Essential Keys

And Finally . . .
In order to accomplish our dreams and live the life we have
imagined, we must maintain constant diligence in becoming and
remaining effective. It’s a life-long process and it takes a
commitment to being our best.
We’d like to help. If you liked the ideas and concepts in this report,
you’ll definitely benefit from the information, inspiration and
ongoing support SuccessNet has to offer. If you’re not already a
subscriber or member, we invite you to enroll today.
Membership to Success Networks


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10 Essential Keys

Knowledge Isn’t Free
“Facts are cheap,
information is
plentiful—knowledge
is precious.”

FOR MANY PEOPLE, especially seasoned Internet users, the idea of
paying for information is a hard one to swallow. There’s so much
data, so many sources, and the access so easy, many people feel they
shouldn’t have to pay for it. And yet, we do it all the time. We go to
seminars, we hire consultants, we take classes, we retain
professionals. Why? Because we need to gain knowledge in a
palatable, efficient and organized fashion. We pay high hourly rates
to professionals because they have specialized knowledge, and they
provide trusted advice and dependable solutions to problems.
Even though we now have the means of accessing virtually all the
documented knowledge the world has to offer, don’t ever think that
it’s free. Even without paying outright for information, there’s a
substantial, albeit usually hidden, cost.
The expenditure is in terms of the time required to retrieve and
integrate useful information. There’s a substantial cost attached to
the time involved in sifting and filtering the data we all seek in order
to be more profitable, effective and fulfilled.
If you don’t put a price on your time, then it might not seem like your
research and study time is costing you much. But you need to. Time
is the “gold” of the new century. You can always make more money,
but you can’t get any more time. Can you really afford to search and
surf several hours a day for the information you desire? Can you
subscribe to—and read—30-40 publications? Probably not. And yet
staying up-to-date is critical to our success.

“It’s not a shortage of
information, but rather
a shortage of time to
obtain, study and
focus this knowledge
of which we’re in short
supply.”

Paul Zane Pilzer has predicted adult education will soon be the
number-one industry in the U.S. Things are changing so rapidly that
we must constantly be learning new technologies and new skills. Our
education is truly a life-long endeavor. It’s not enough to have a
general education, we need to know where to turn for information,
how to access that information, and more importantly, who we can
trust.
By knowing what a customer wants, and having a good sense of the
needs of its clients, an information company can keep its members
abreast of trends, provide up-to-date news and information, and
remind them of the keys and principles they need to keep in mind.
As we’re bombarded with information, we’ll need more and more the
services of a discerning staff to support us by supplying encapsulated
wisdom on a regular basis. It is to this that SuccessNet is committed.
Some of our members have likened it to hiring someone to watch out
for you—someone to keep your interests and well being in mind.
Managers, leaders and heads of large companies have people they


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10 Essential Keys

“Whoever acquires
knowledge but does
not practice it is as
one who plows but
does not sow.”

pay to do this for them. Today’s entrepreneur and intrepreneur need
this, too.
What’s it worth? If you plan to be a real success in your career, you
need to begin to value your time at what it will be worth, not only
what it’s worth now. For purposes of example, let’s use only $25 per
hour and say that you could save just two hours a week. That’d be
$2,600 a year. When you truly equate the cost of your time to sift and
filter, you start to appreciate the value of someone doing this for you.
If we’re committed to leading a successful life—to optimizing our
efforts—it’s critical for us to increase our skills, expand our
knowledge and stay abreast of things that affect our future. We live
in an age of information overload where data dumping is epidemic.
It’s not a shortage of information but rather a shortage of time to
obtain, study and focus this knowledge of which we’re in short
supply. We need help in filtering the data in order that we assimilate
what’s important. Businesses that fill this need (whether it’s their
main focus or not) will do well in the years ahead.
Like Ben Franklin said, “If a man empties his purse in his head, no
one can take it away from him. An investment in knowledge always
pays the best interest.” And remember, information—or rather the
acquisition of knowledge—is rarely free.


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10 Essential Keys

SuccessNet Resources
Your Core Values™ eCourse
Discover, define and begin living in accordance with your true
values.
http://YourCoreValues.com
Make it a Great Day™
Daily motivation and inspiration to help you excel. For employers
and employees who want to make every day more productive and
fulfilling—to make every day a great day.
http://MakeitaGreatDay.biz
World Class Business™
Take your business to the next level.
http://WorldClassBusiness.com
101 Best Ways to Get Ahead
What if the most successful people in the world gave you their best
advice to help you achieve your highest potential? What kind of
difference would that make in your life—personally and
professionally?
http://101BestWays.com
101 Best Ways to Be Your Best
Practical Wisdom to Help You Maximize Your Unique Potential
A compilation of the most popular articles Michael Angier has
written over the last 10 years—now all in one book.
http://101BestWays.com
SuccessMark™ Cards
Inspirational and motivational online greeting cards—free!
http://SuccessMarkCards.com
Michael Angier, speaker, coach and consultant
Michael works with senior executives who want to build world class
companies and with people who want to do value-driven work.
http://MichaelAngier.com


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10 Essential Keys

About Success Net
SuccessNet is an international association
of people committed to operating at their
best—to creating excellence in every aspect
of their lives and throughout their
respective organizations. We support people
in developing the skills, knowledge, belief
and passion to achieve their dreams.

OUR MISSION:
to inform, inspire and
empower people to
be their best—
personally and
professionally.

SuccessNet is dedicated to helping you become more knowledgeable,
prosperous and effective. In addition to our publications, we provide
a complete membership package dedicated to making your road to
success easier and more fun.
Since 1995, over 150,000 people from all around the globe have
benefited from the SuccessNet experience.
People from all walks of life become members: small-business
owners, managers and people who want to get ahead in their careers.
Our members want to maximize their potential, improve the quality
of their lives and make a lasting difference in the world.
SuccessNet is for great people who want to become even better.

Free Access (and free reports)
Visit http://SuccessNet.org or by sending an email to
subscribe@SuccessNet.org
Visit our web site at http://SuccessNet.org
Success Networks International
PO Box 2048, Win-Win Way
South Burlington, Vermont 05407-2048 USA
BeYourBest@SuccessNet.org
802.862.0812 voice
425.988.7300 fax


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10 essential key to personal effectiveness

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